The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 2 Review: The Whaler
Denis Kimathi
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Vengeance is expensive!
The team learned of a high-stakes poker game on The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 2, but nothing could have prepared them for the purpose of the game.
Raymond learned that Agnes was being bullied at school and made it his responsibility to ensure it didn't happen again, much to Cooper's protests.
But first, Siya Malik was welcomed to the team, and different people felt a certain way about it.
She made her feelings about Raymond known, which we had anticipated after meeting her on The Blacklist Season 10 Episode 1.
Mr. Redington, we don't have to be friends with one another. Like my mother, I'm extremely capable. And I can liaise with you, work besides you, smile at your jokes. But this is a professional relationship to me. Nothing more.
Siya
How long she will go on to hold her position remains to be seen because she wasn't the first person to occupy that room and have the same feelings about him.
Agent Park could not tolerate him, and she also had intended to maintain a purely professional relationship until she needed his help, and he gained leverage over her.
I have a feeling we haven't uncovered everything she feels about Raymond.
Siya doesn't know much about how her mother died, and this is her priority. Whatever she finds out, make no mistake, it will be connected to Redington because everyone who has died in this show, Raymond, is to blame in part or whole.
And honestly, Meera would have had a long and fruitful career if Raymond had never done what he did on The Blacklist Season 1 Episode 1. That single act was the thing that set everything in motion leading to Meera being stabbed and until now.
Siya didn't know the extent of how someone has to bend to accommodate Raymond when working in this task force.
Donald had first-hand experience of how it is.
You have no idea what you're inviting in with this job. This is how he operates. He has no problem putting somebody out on a limb because that is how he operates. There is no line he won't cross Agent Malik. I'll be there when you figure that out.
Donald
He was the first member of the anti-Raymond club. He could have happily thrown Raymond in prison in the early seasons and then gone on with his life.
The constant moral dissonance had driven him to addiction.
He had tried to warn Siya, but sadly, one must experience some things to learn.
If she emerges on the other end, Siya will have made peace with the status quo or buried Raymond in an unmarked grave.
And to his credit, Raymond didn't kid himself. He correctly guessed that he and Siya would not be best friends. He is so good at hiding his feelings one can not tell how that made him feel.
Raymond: If she's anything like her mother, she'll be a keen asset with a discerning eye.
Harlod: And you'll be okay with her?
Raymond: I believe the question is whether she'll be okay with me.
My guess? He will try to win her over by doing little her little favors; if he can't, it's not above him to set her up.
Everyone has a weakness; for Raymond, it went from Elizabeth to Agnes. Seeing her getting bullied like that made him want to intervene.
But what if he was overcompensating?
We spent the entirety of The Blacklist Season 9 following him as he tried to uncover who killed Elizabeth.
That was not enough, though. Finding the killer got him one thing only. Revenge. The guilt of being responsible or not seeing the danger will never leave him.
If he had been just a little more careful, Elizabeth would be alive today, and Agnes would have her mother.
He felt like he could make up for his past mistakes by acting like a guardian angel for her.
Cooper was well aware of what happens to anyone who gets close to Raymond, and you could hear the seriousness in his voice when he warned Raymond against interfering with Agnes' life.
Cooper has let a lot that Raymond has done slide, but what if this is the thing he will not agree to?
Wujing continued preparing to take down Raymond, but one can't fight a war without ammunition.
Wujing was in a fix because he had been operating underground for months by calling in favors or a little blackmail here and there. But a man cannot live on blackmail alone. Only by a fat wallet.
One must admit that the money transfer method Anika had discovered was very ingenious. Greed, however, got the better part of her, and it was her undoing.
'The Whaler' saw Raymond and Wujing in the same room and across from each other, giving them an opportunity to size each other up.
An invisible battle was fought before our eyes even though we couldn't see it. Raymond might have emerged as the winner, but the war was far from over.
I know exactly what you are. And soon, the rest of the world will see that too. ... I'm going to be the end of you.
Wujing
Before they had gotten to him, Wujing had already recovered a couple of million dollars; with that amount, he could do some real damage.
But Wujing was not looking to kill Raymond. Even though they didn't have guns, plenty of weapons existed in that room. His long game is to destroy Raymond's reputation in the criminal world, ending his alliances and leaving him exposed.
Extra thoughts
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I thought I had gotten over seeing Dembe as an FBI agent, but I was thrown when he identified himself as an FBI agent and read out his badge number. My mind had registered this as an elaborate hoax.
- I thought we were keeping Tadashi on at least semi-permanently. It's not charming anymore not seeing a nerd going off about some IT thing, the keyboard clicks in the background, and the screens light up with a myriad of stuff, but we can only make out the images.
What did you think of the episode? We always love reading your feedback, so don't hesitate to comment.
You can watch The Blacklist online right here on TV Fanatic to catch up.
Denis Kimathi was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. He has watched more dramas and comedies than he cares to remember. Catch him on social media obsessing over [excellent] past, current, and upcoming shows or going off about the politics of representation on TV. Follow him on X.
